“Why are you learning Chinese?”
This is the question I recently posed to my class of middle schoolers. I received a variety of answers including: “So I can talk to my grandparents,” “So I can make friends when I travel to China,” “So I can be a translator when I grow up,” or even, “Because my friends take Chinese and I want to spend time with them.” I was surprised — every answer was so different! As an educator, it’s important to me that each lesson is catered to the interests and needs of the students. With so many answers and perspectives, I thought: “How can I serve their interests if they are all interested in different things?”
I spent a lot of time pondering the class’s responses. After deeper inspection, I realized that there actually was a common theme among each reply: community. This pattern is not unique to my middle school Chinese learners. In the mid 1990’s, as the importance of having multilingual citizens was becoming more and more evident, the US decided to create national standards for what students should know and be able to do in world language. A task force of language education experts created 11 standards which were proven by research to be the most beneficial to students’ comprehension and communicative capabilities in world language. These standards were then compiled into the Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century. In this text the 11 standards are broken down into five goal areas called the Five Cs: Communication, Comparisons, Connections, Culture, and Community (ACTFL 2023). Four of the five goal areas can be found in classroom textbooks. The only one that is impossible to learn from a textbook is the goal of Community.
My students’ reasons for learning Chinese reflect the research that says being part of a language community motivates learners. Shrum and Glisan note in the Teacher’s Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction that: “…developing communities among learners in the classroom can complement learners’ work within the larger school community and in communities beyond the school.” (Shrum and Gilsan, p.381) Having a language community to rely on gives students consistent, authentic opportunities to practice their skills. Additionally, a language community can act as a support when experiencing challenges. Just as being part of a community helps students develop and maintain their language skills, lacking a language community is a frequent contributing factor for learners giving up on their language journey. Much to the dismay of a certain infamous green owl, apps and independent study will never be optimal language learning settings because of their inherent lack of community engagement.
So, what does this mean? At the end of the day, grammar and vocabulary can only take you so far. What is so special about Chinese is the exact thing you can’t learn from cramming, and that which cannot be demonstrated on a final exam. As Chinese learners, in addition to learning the language, we are challenged with the unique task of finding our community. As a current Western student, now is your time to build your community: go to the Chinese Communication Club, meet Chinese students at the tutoring center, go on field trips with your classmates to Dragon Well, or the Richmond night market. Do whatever activities inspire you to find and bond with your Chinese language community.
译文
“你学习中文的原因是什么呢？”
这是我最近向班上的初中生提出的问题。 我收到了各种各样的答案，包括“这样我就能和祖父母聊天了”、“会说中文，我去中国旅行时就能交到朋友了”、“学好中文，我长大后就能成为翻译”，甚至还有”因为我的朋友都学中文，我想和他们一起学习”。 我很惊讶，因为每个答案都是如此不同！ 作为一位教育工作者，对我来说，重要的是每堂课都要找到学生的兴趣，同时满足学生的需要。面对这么多的答案和观点，我想，如果他们对不同的东西感兴趣，我该怎样让他们都感兴趣呢？
我花了很多时间来思考这些答案。经过深入观察，我意识到，每种回答其实都围绕一个共同的主题：社区。 对于班里的这些中文学习者们来说，这个主题其实很具有代表性。在20世纪90年代中期，由于拥有多语言公民的重要性越来越明显，美国决定制定出一套国家标准，这样语言学习者在外语方面就能获得相应的信息和指导。一个由语言教育专家组成的特别工作组制定了11项标准，这些标准经过研究证明，有益于学生理解外国语言和提高交际能力。这些标准随后被编入《外语学习的标准： 为21世纪做准备》。 在这篇文章中，这11项标准被分解成五个目标领域，称为 “五个C”： 交流、比较、联系、文化和社区（ACTFL 2023）。 这五个目标领域中的四个都可以在课堂教科书中找到。 唯一无法从教科书中达成的是 “社区 “这一目标。
我的学生学习中文的种种理由，全都反映出了一项研究结果，即成为语言社区的一部分会有效地激励学习者。《教师手册》的作者们指出：”……在课堂上结成学习者之间的社区环境，可以补充学习者在更大的学校社区和学校以外的社区中的经验”。(Shrum and Gilsan, p.381) 有一个可以依赖的语言社区给了学生持续的、真实的机会来练习他们的技能。 此外，当遇到挑战时，一个语言社区可以作为一种支持。正如成为社区的一员有助于学生发展和保持语言技能一样，缺乏语言社区的经验是学习者放弃语言学习的一个常见原因。 令某些线上语言学习软件开发商失望的是，利用应用程序或独自学习永远无法成为最佳的语言学习方法，因为它们本身就缺乏社区的参与感。
那么，这又说明了什么呢？在结束一天的线上独立学习时，你只能学到一些语法和词汇。中文的特别之处正是那些你从填鸭式学习中无法学到的内容，也是无法在期末考试中展示出的东西。作为中文的学习者，除了学习语言之外，我们还面临着寻找自己社区的独特任务。作为一位在读的外国学生，现在是你建立自己社区的时候了：去汉语交流俱乐部，去辅导中心认识一些中国留学生，和你的同学去龙井或列治文夜市进行实地考察。做任何激励你的活动，从而找到你自己的中文社区并融入其中吧。
按语：李晓雨已经学习中文8年了。 她是西华盛顿大学外国语学院的校友，也是2019年中国语言和文化专业的优秀毕业生，以及2021年“汉语桥”的世界总冠军。 她目前是波特兰州立大学“中学双元制教师项目”的候选教师，并有望在毕业后获得中学特殊教育和中文教学的资格证书，她计划明年在北京大学继续进修中文。
Kendall Kracke
Kendall Kracke has been learning Chinese for 8 years. She is a WWU alumna, the 2019 Outstanding Graduating Senior in Chinese Language and Culture, and the 2021 Chinese Bridge World Champion. She is currently a Teacher Candidate in the Secondary Dual Educator Program at Portland State University and is on track to be licensed to teach Special Education and Chinese Language at the secondary levels upon graduation. She plans to study Chinese Language at Beijing University next year.